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SGI President Daisaku
Ikeda
 Dr
Daisaku Ikeda is a Buddhist philosopher, an educator and a prolific
writer and poet. As president of the Soka Gakkai International
(SGI) lay Buddhist movement, he has devoted himself to wide-ranging
efforts for peace and individual empowerment, and has founded
cultural, educational and peace research institutions around the
world.
Born in Tokyo in 1928, Dr Ikeda experienced firsthand the tragic
reality of war and militarism. In the chaos of post-war Japan, he
came to embrace Buddhism through an encounter with the educator and
pacifist Josei Toda,
head of the Buddhist lay organisation Soka Gakkai, who had been
imprisoned for his beliefs during World War II.
These experiences shaped Dr Ikeda's commitment to peace. Over
the years, Ikeda has engaged in dialogue with many of the world's
preeminent thinkers and leaders in search of viable responses to
global problems, inspired the SGI's support of United Nations
activities, and written extensively on a range of issues related to
peace and the human condition.
Central to Dr Ikeda's thinking is the idea that a self-directed
transformation within the life of each individual, rather than
societal or structural reforms alone, holds the key to lasting
peace and human happiness. This is expressed most succinctly in a
passage in his best-known work, The
Human Revolution, "A great revolution of character in just a
single individual will help achieve a change in the destiny of a
nation and, further, will cause a change in the destiny of
humankind."
Dr Ikeda's books,
offering perspectives grounded in Buddhist humanism on the
challenges facing both individuals in their daily lives and
humanity as a whole, have been published in more than 30
languages. |
